The enantioselective hydrolysis of p-nitrophenyl esters of a-amino acids (Phe, Leu, Ala) was accomplished in micelles formed with the surfactants bearing one or two sugar-amide headgroups. The effect of structural variations in such sugar-amide surfactants on the rates and enantioselectivity (k(D)/k(L)) for hydrolysis of p-nitrophenyl esters of D- and L-phenylalanine hydrogen bromides (D- and L-PheONp) was studied. Both the hydrolysis rate of D-PheONp and the enantioselectivity increased with an increase in the alkyl chain length as well as an increase in the number of the alkyl chains in the maltobionamide-type surfactants. Enantioselectivity also increased with an increase in the sugar chain length from bisgluconamide to bismaltobionamide (by one glucose unit per each sugar chain) in the double-sugar-chain surfactants, but enantioselectivity was no longer influenced by a further increase to bismaltotrionamide. The stereochemistry of the linkage between the sugar units in the sugar chain remarkably affected the enantioselectivity: the maltobionamide-type surfactant, in which the two sugar units are connected by an alpha- 1,4-glucosidic linkage, showed high enantioselectivity (k(d)/k(L) = 5.5), whereas the surfactant bearing cellobionamide headgroups ( beta-1,4-glucosidic linkage) showed no enantioselectivity. Similar trends were observed when p-nitrophenyl esters of D- and L-leucine hydrogen bromides were used as substrates. On the other hand, the rates and enantioselectivity for hydrolysis of p-nitrophenyl esters of D- and L-alanine hydrogen bromides were not so largely affected by the structural variations in the sugar-amide surfactants. Additionally, the effects of the surfactant concentration and the reaction temperature on the rates and enantioselectivity for the hydrolysis of D- and L-PheONp were examined.